There are a lot of jobs in the hospitality industry. Individuals involved in the hospitality industry play a big role in making guests' experiences enjoyable. Hospitality workers need to have customer service and problem solving skills, at least a fundamental understanding of financials and guest services knowledge. Those who have a hospitality management degree will also have to train and manage employees to make sure they are being hospitable to clients. Either way, here is a list of 10 different careers a hospitality management major can pursue:

Casino/Gaming Supervisor

Casino supervisors manage the daily operations of the casino. This includes making sure there are enough dealers on the floor, maintaining customer relations and organizing any special events that are going on in the casino. Gaming supervisors are also responsible for assuring that all casino staff maintain a high level of professionalism, and this can be challenging when dealing with guests who have lost all their money.

Concierge

A hotel concierge does more than just get guests their room keys and schedule wakeup calls. The concierge is a traveler's key to the city in which they are staying. Additional tasks a concierge may perform include: recommending points of interest; scheduling guided tours; making restaurant reservations; booking tickets for a concert or other special event and more. Basically, the concierge is the first point of contact for anyone visiting a new city.

Hotel/Lodging Manager

Whereas the concierge deals with the customers directly and makes sure all their needs are met, the hotel manager primarily deals with everything that goes on behind the scenes. This includes managing all of the hotel staff. Larger hotels may have several managers, one for the desk staff, one to oversee housekeeping and one to oversee the hotel restaurants, but usually, there is one hotel manager that oversees all of those individual managers.

Dietary Services Manager

Whereas dieticians work one-on-one with a handful of clients or small companies, a dietary services manager works for large institutions, like hospitals, to monitor dietary restrictions and develop menus for people with special dietary needs. The dietary services manager will work closely with both the kitchen staff and patients/clients in order to make sure everybody's dietary needs are met.

Travel Agent

A travel agent specializes in making travel arrangements for their clients. The job can be as simple as selecting and booking flights on desired dates or as complicated as handling an entire honeymoon, which can include finding and booking all of the travel, lodging, tours and rental car for the newlyweds. Travel agents are usually people who like to travel themselves and can offer first-hand experience or advice to their clients.

Executive Chef

An executive chef is both a cook and a manager. Some of their responsibilities include placing food orders, designing the menu, training sous chefs and overseeing general cooking operations. Also, with the rise of celebrity chefs, more and more diners may want to meet the executive chef, and a hospitality degree will help the chef's interactions with those people as well as teach them how to effectively manage kitchen staff.

Tour Director

Tour directors usually work for large tour companies in cities, like Rome, where tourism is a major industry. The tour director is a manager for all of the tour guides and is in charge for scheduling guided tours.

Event Planner

Event planners plan parties, anything from wedding receptions to concerts. That may sound simple and fun at first, but remember, the parties have to fall within the specifications and budget of the client. The event planner works side-by-side with the client to plan the theme, location, date and budget. The planner also works with local vendors, decorators and entertainment groups to make sure every event turns out just as the client dreamed.

Food Critic

Food critics judge more than just the taste and presentation of the food. They judge the overall operation of a particular restaurant, and a hospitality management degree and a few years of experience working in a restaurant itself will give a food critic a unique eye for how things should be, helping him or her judge every restaurant accordingly. Since the reviews often go in newspapers, food critics also need good writing skills.

Restaurant Owner/Operator

A restaurant owner or operator is often responsible for everything that happens in the front- and back-of-house. The owner may also interact directly with customers, especially after the restaurant has just opened. Rather than just diving into the restaurant business, like so many people do, those with a degree in hospitality management have some industry knowledge that will help minimize the amount of trial and error that can cause many new restaurant owners to fail. » Learn More about How to Not Fail at Running a Restaurant